Book sewing machine



March 1962 w. B. HILDMANN 3,024,746

BOOK SEWING MACHINE Filed April 1, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

March 13, 1962 w. B. HILDMANN 3,024,746

BOOK SEWING MACHINE Filed April 1, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 NIH.

INVENTOR.

March 13, 1962 w. B. HILDMANN 3,024,746

BOOK SEWING MACHINE Filed April 1, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 CLUTCH OVERRUNN INE Mm Ma ma.

United States Patent Ofifice 3,024,745 Patented Mar. 13, 1962 3,024,746 BOOK SEWING MACHINE William B. Hildmann, Oak Park, Ill., assignor to Brock and Rankin, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed Apr. 1, 1958, Ser. No. 725,600 Claims. (Cl. 11221) This invention has as its principal object the provision of a machine for side-stitching heavy books with a full lock stitch at relatively high production rates.

Book stitching machines of various types are known in the bookbinding arts, and those which are capable of satisfactorily handling the heavier books are generally quite large and costly and are incapable of high-speed operation.

The present disclosures afford a book-sewing machine which is considerably smaller and lighter than the best of the previously available machines and one which is capable of consistently high-speed operation, is easy to maintain and operate, and less costly to build.

Heavy books can be machine-sewn by drilling holes in advance of the needle and, with only two exceptions, this method requires registration of the prepared hole with the sewing needle, the exceptions being the use of a hol low drill with internal needle, and the use of heavy needles driven at slow speeds by brute force.

In those cases where the hole is drilled in advance of the needle entry, the problems of registry and over-all production speed have been critically limiting factors, and so far as known, the only machines of this class heretofore capable of economical performance have been handfed.

The machine hereinafter disclosed does not have to be hand-fed and depends for its success mainly upon the provision of a simple means for procuring consistently accurate registry of the drill holes with the needle, with the result that books or signatures measuring from about three-quarters to six-quarters inches in thickness can be stitched rapidly with a full lock stitch with automatic infeed and outfeed.

Certain of the more specific features of novelty in the invention relate to the provision of a drill and needle means acting concurrently relative to a common presser foot; and to the provision of a dead-stop measuring means for accurately advancing the signatures step-by-step through registering positions relative to said drill and needle means.

Additional objects and aspects of novelty and utility will appear as the following description proceeds in view of the annexed drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a partial end view of the machine in the region of the sewing station;

FIG. 2 is a partial front elevation of parts of the machine seen in FIG. 1 at the sewing station;

FIG. 3 is a perspective schematic of the basic components of the novel book-sewing machine;

FIG. 4 is an elevational detail of the dead-stop means.

As depicted in the end view of FIG. 1, the machine includes a feed bed defined between adjustable rails 9A, 9B flanking longitudinally spaced bed plate portions 11 between which the upper flight of a sprocket chain 12 is trained to carry a series of spaced flights 13 between which book signatures S are pushed along (away from the viewer) toward a discharge end of the bed at the end of the machine distant from the side seen in FIG. l, or from right to left in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The signatures are advanced step-by-step, by feed means to be described hereafter, into and out of position beneath a drill head including a rotary drill l5, and a presser foot 10 (FIGS. 2 and 3), the drill being chucked in the end of a spindle 16 rotatably seated in a vertically-shiftable sleeve bearing assembly 17, guided for vertical reciprocation in a bushing 18 in the frame casting.

The upper end of the drive spindle is slidably splined to a pulley 19 driven through belt means 20 from a separate power source or motor 21, FIG. 1.

Reciprocation of the drill head is effected by means of a crank lever 24 (FIG. 2 also) working on a pin 25 fixed in a collar 26 which is fast on the bearing sleeve. The crank lever is driven by a crankwheel 27 carried on a countershaft 28, driven in a manner to be described hereafter in relation to the principal power means for the machine.

As seen in FIG. 2, the presser foot 10 is somewhat elongated and double-ended, and is carried between its ends on a vertically reciprocable bar 30 working in frame slides 31 and having near its bottom a crank pin 32 connecting with a crank rod 33 having near its upper end a threadedly adjustable clevis 34 in which works a roller 35 carried at the end of a rocker arm 36 on rocker stub shaft 37 (HO. 1).

Rocker shaft 37 is actuated by a bell crank lever 38 thereon having a roller 38A riding the periphery of a cam 29 turning with crank wheel 27 on shaft 28.

Continuing with reference to FIG. 2, at the end of the presser foot opposite from the drill 15 is a heavy needle 40 socketed in a rod 41 reciprocable vertically in frame bushings 42.

The needle is driven in sewing action by means of a crank lever 43 pivotally connecting at one end with a pin block 44 on the rod and at its other end with a crank pin 45 on the end of a drum cam 46 (FIG. 3 also) which serves additionally to drive certain thread-feeding means to be described.

Cooperative with the needle, and located beneath the feed bed (FIG. 2) is a known type of shuttle 48 carrying the usual bobbin of thread for looping a locking thread into the stitch of the needle thread 50.

Means by which a commercially successful synchronization is achieved to provide a fast and reliable machine capable of sewing heavy books is illustrated in FIG. 3, and includes a main power shaft 50 driven by motor 51 through a pulley means 52 having a suitable speed reduction ratio.

A countershaft 54 is driven by crank means 55 fro-m the main shaft and in turn drives the shuttle 48.

The drum cam 46 is driven directly from the main power shaft and has a profile groove 47 for actuating a rocker 49 to feed the main stitching thread 50 for needle 40.

Countershaft 28 is driven through gear means 55 from the main shaft and, as previously noted, rotates the combination crankwheel and cam 27 which controls the raising and lowering of both the drill head 1617 and the presser foot means 10, 30 through the respective crank lever and rocker means 24 and 36.

For such a machine to sew heavy books successfully at high speed with minimum down time due to cripples, bad stitching, registry, and like troubles experienced with other types of machine when speed-up is attempted, it is essential that the signatures S to be fed rapidly and accurately into and out of absolutely registering position relative to the drill 15 and needle 40; and this requires that the signatures must always be delivered to the sewing position with the preformed needle hole made by drill 15 in positive alignment with the needle; moreover, the prepared needle holes must be spaced with consistent accuracy relative to the head, foot and binding margins of the book of signatures.

Prior attempts to sew heavy books have also resorted to such other expediences (in addition to the hollow drill and needle combination previously mentioned) as stitching into the spine of the signatures rather than through the total thickness thereof, or to some easier type of stitch other than the highly-desirable lock stitch-for example, a crochet stitch.

The most successful of the heavy book-stitching ma chines available heretofore have been of the heavy, slow, brute-force variety which defeat attempts at speed-up by an intolerable rise in cripples, rejects, broken needles, and down-time for the whole production line.

The presently-disclosed machine achieves a higher speed operation through means for assuring absolute registry of the drill and needle holes by use of a presser foot which is common to both the drilling and sewing operations; and also by movement of the signatures in measured steps of controlled uniformity relative to the drill and needle spacing, and operations thereof.

The novel signature-advancing means comprises the sprocket 12A (FIGS. 1 and 3) driven from countershaft 70, which in turn is driven through an over-running clutch 71 connecting said countershaft to the main power shaft 50 through crank means 73, drive rod 74, and a rocker lever 75 loaded by a spring 76 and rocked by a cam 72 on shaft 50.

The stroke of the conveyor driving linkage 72-75 of itself cannot be made sufficiently uniform within the critical limits of accuracy required for the purposes of such a machine, and further means is provided for uniformly measuring-out the driving impulses from this stroke by a predetermined amount which is less than the full power stroke from the linkage 72-75, this being accomplished by the provision of a dead-stop means including an angularly adjustable stop gear 77 fast on the sprocket countershaft 70 and engageable by a dead-stop dog 78 oscillated by a drive rod 79 which is reciprocated in synchronism with the drilling and stitching operations by connection with the main power shaft 50 through rocker cranks 81 and 82 on a rocker shaft 80 driven by an adjustable stroke crank rod 83 from shaft 50, by means of a cam 84 on shaft 50 and working in a yoke 85 at the end of rod 83.

The stroke adjustment means for the dead-stop yoke rod 838S comprises a shiftable pivot 86 movable back and forth to selected positions in a slide block 87 fixed on the machine chassis.

A further stroke adjustment is provided for in the deadstop ratchet means as depicted in the detail of FIG. 4, the gear 77 consisting of a hub part 77A which is fast on shaft 70, and an angularly shiftable ratchet plate 773 which can be adjustably turned relative to the hub an amount permitted by the length of the long bolt slots 77C and then set in position by bolts 77D.

The dead stop dog 78 is normally urged to engage the ratchet gear 77 by spring 78A, and is moved by rod 79 through a crank leverage 79A, 79B and crank 79C pivoted coaxially at 78E with the dog, there being a pin 78? fixed at the end of dog 78 which works in a long slot 795 on the crank 79C.

Thus, the stroke of the stop rod 79 can be varied by means 86, 87 within the limits permitted by the crank slot 795, and this in effect will control the time of stoppage of the sprocket shaft 70 relative to the angular position of the main power shaft 50 in each operating cycle of the latter.

When an attempt is made to sew through a book one and one-half inches thick (considered a heavy book) the problem is quite different compared with side stitching through a half-inch book. The deeper stitch requires not only more power, but more time; the conveyance and registration of the heavier signatures not only places a much greater load on the advancing or conveying means, but most significantly will throw a conveying mechanism (which might be suitable for lighter books) wholly out of precision registry when the attempt is made to feed heavier books, even though there may be reserve power as far as the added load is concerned.

In a given stitching cycle for handling heavy books, only about 70 time is available for advancing the thicker signatures, the 290 remaining being required to make the stitch. Such a cycle is irregular in the sense that the time available to position the object is considerably disproportionate to the time required for the performance of the operation, so that from the outset, conventional registry controls are ruled out.

The conveyor chain 12 must move rapidly therefore during the short time available, yet the action cannot be started with safety until the retreating needle has positively cleared the book. The problem is complicated because the thickness and physical characteristics of the paper stock are not absolutely uniform. The long presser foot 10, acting in common with the drill and needle, is the effective means for sizing down the thickness to some uniform value at the drilling and stitching stations.

In consequence of such limitations and conditions ordinary intermittent drives (e.g. Geneva movements, etc.) are not feasible.

Part of the disclosed solution to the problem resides in making the feed drive cam 72 of special shape to provide a slow starting and a slow stopping phase, with a fast intervening driving or working phase of a magnitude to procure an overstroke which is transmitted to the overrunning clutch 71, from which consistently accurate starting and stopping of the conveyor means 1213 is effected by utilizing a predetermined uniform portion of the stroke less than the full available magnitude thereof from the stroke-deriving means 72, 73, 74, 75, etc.

I claim:

1. In a book-sewing machine, a longitudinally-extensive signature feed bed, a rotary drill and vertically reciprocable stitching needle spaced apart lengthwise above said bed, a vertically-reciprocable presser foot sub stantially spanning the distance between the drill and needle; a main power shaft and motor means for rotat ing same; mechanism actuated from said shaft for jointly raising and lowering said drill, needle and presser foot relative to a book of signatures therebelow in said bed; means for rotating said drill and means for advancing book signatures step-by-step along said bed beneath said drill needle and presser foot in predetermined uniform steps corresponding to the distance separating the drill from the needle in accurately timed relation to the raising and lowering movements of said drill, needle, and presser-foot whereby to register the needle with holes previously made by said drill, said means comprising a countershaft and over-running clutch, said countershaft driven through said over-running clutch from said main power shaft, and a dead stop pawl and gear means operatively associated with said countershaft, and means operating in timed relation with said main shaft and actuated at predetermined uniform intervals of rotation of the main shaft to actuate said dead stop means to stop the angular movement of the countershaft repeatedly at identical positions of angular displacement with respect to the immediately preceding angular displacement thereof and the angular displacement of said main shaft in each operating cycle thereof; and signature moving means advanced step-by-step by driving connection with said countershaft.

2. A book stitching machine comprising a step-by-step signature conveyor having a reciprocable rotary drill with a reciprocatory sewing needle spaced therefrom and in the direction of signature travel and a cooperative reciprocatory presser foot spanning substantially the distance between the drill and needle; means for rotating the drill, and means including a main drive shaft for jointly raising and lowering the drill together with the needle and presser foot at regular intervals in stitching cycles; together with means driven from said main shaft for moving said conveyor means in accurately uniform signature-advancing steps as a part of each said stitching cycle, said moving means including mechanism for deriving a driving stroke from said main shaft which is of a magnitude in excess of the stroke needed to move said conveyor means the distance of one of said steps; an

over-running clutch means drivingly interconnecting said stroke-deriving mechanism and said conveyor means, and a stopping means cooperable with said stroke-deriving means and said main shaft and acting at intervals timed relative to the joint operation of said drill, needle and presser foot, and driven in synchrony with the latter from said main shaft, for stopping the travel of said conveyor means by a determined amount less than the travel thereof otherwise effected by the full driving stroke of said stroke-deriving means.

3. A machine according to claim 2 further characterized in that said stroke-deriving means comprises a cam driven by said main shaft and having a slow starting and stopping phase with a fast intervening working phase, a stroke-mechanism actuated accordingly by said cam and operatively connecting with the said over-running clutch means.

4. Mechanism according to claim 3 further characterized in that said stopping means includes a driven shaft connection between said over-running clutch means and said conveyor means, together with a ratchet gear on said driven shaft, a dead-stopping dog movable into and out of stopping engagement with said gear, and an adjustable lever means driving said dog as aforesaid from said main shaft in predetermined synchronous relation to the stitching operation of said drill, needle and presser foot.

5. In a machine for operating on book signatures, a feed bed along which signatures are to be fed seriatim; book-signature conveyor means trained unidirectionally for step-by-step advancing movement along said bed and having equally spaced signature-engaging means thereon; means situated to operate on signatures in the bed at certain times when the same are not in motion; a main power shaft driving said book-operating means in a predetermined time cycle; and mechanism for accurately advancing said conveyor means in uniform steps at times when said book-operating means is inoperative upon the signatures, said mechanism comprising: a first driving connection with said main shaft for transmitting operating displacements to said conveyor means; a second driving connection for transmitting said operating displacements to said conveyor means; an over-running coupling means operatively and interruptably interconnecting said first and second driving connections, the driving displacement provided by said first connection being constantly greater in magnitude than is required to effect a full advancing step by the conveyor means; and stop means operable under control of said main shaft to act upon said second driving connection to interrupt the driving displacement transmitted from the first to the second said driving connections through said coupling means at such times as the magnitude of the second displacement shall equal that required to advance the conveyor means the distance of one of said predetermined steps, said last-mentioned magnitude being less than said first-mentioned magnitude, means for actuating said interrupting stop means comprising a third driving connection transmitting synchronous control displacements from said main shaft to said stop means at intervals related to said cycle of the book-operating means to advance the conveyor means in said equal steps at times when the book operating means is not operating upon any signature in said bed as aforesaid,

6. In a book-stitching machine, a stitching needle means, a feed bed for travelling gathered pages in books serially past said stitching needle means; feed means operable to advance said books on said bed seriatim in predetermined uniform steps to and past said needle means; means situated along the path of advance of said books in a fixed location ahead of said needle means for making needle holes in each book while the same is at rest at predetermined uniform step distances from each other and from the head and foot of the book as a function of the step-by-step travel of the books; driven mech anism for actuating said stitching means, said hole-making means and said feed means in timed coordination such that the advancing operations of the feed means occur only at times when the stitching and hole-making means are disengaged from any book; and registryregulating means for equalizing said advancing steps and comprising means cooperable with said feed means for initiating each advancing operation of the feed means to produce an advancing step greater in magnitude than the magnitude of said predetermined step; and stop means acting under control of said driven mechanism for stopping the advancing action of said feed means when the magnitude of the step equals that of said predetermined step.

7. A book-sewing machine including a stitching needle and needle-hole drill means located in fixed spatial relation to the needle to produce uniformly spaced stitches; intermittently-acting book conveying means for advancing books serially by steps into successive positions of rest beneath and past the drill means and needle; drive mechanism for actuating said needle and drill means; and means for regulating each advancing action of said conveying means to produce advancing steps of required predetermined uniform magnitude each equivalent to the spacing between the drill means and needle so as to stop the advance of the books in positions of rest for each stitching operation with the needle in entry alignment with any drilled hole, said regulating means comprising an interruptable overdriving actuating connection between said drive mechanism and said conveying means for actuating the latter to produce advancing movements which would each be greater in magnitude than the magnitude of said predetermined required steps; and means actuated under control of, and in synchronous relation with, said drive mechanism and cooperable with said overdriving connection for interrupting each said advancing movement of the conveying means at a time when the magnitude of advance thereof equals that of the required step.

8. Apparatus for advancing articles serially in required steps of equal predetermined magnitude into and out of a plurality of successive positions of rest relative to a fixed operational position, said apparatus including intermittently operable means for advancing said articles seriatim in a direction to and from said fixed position; drive mechanism and a releasable overdrive means operatively interconnecting the same with said advancing means, said drive mechanism overdriving the advancing means to actuate the advancing means in steps each exceeding said required magnitude; and dead-stop means operating in timed coaction with said drive mechanism and said overdrive means to release the latter and abruptly arrest the action of said advancing means each time the same has advanced a distance equal to the required step.

9. In a book-sewing machine of the type having concurrently acting means including a sewing needle, needlehole drill, and common presser foot characterized in that the presser foot, needle, and drill are driven in cycles from a common drive shaft to move up and down in unison into and out of operative engagement with a book of gathered leaves in timed relation to movements of a start-stop conveyor also driven in measured advancing steps from said shaft, improvements for controlling the magnitude of said steps comprising: a dead-stop clutch means having an output drivingly connecting with said conveyor and an input drivingly connecting with said main shaft and having an overstroke input and capable of a dead-stop at the output for utilizing less than the whole input stroke to provide uniform conveyor steps, and means synchronously driven from said common shaft for actuating the clutch means at certain intervals in each said cycle to advance the conveyor only when the needle, drill, and presser foot means are out of operative engagement with a book as aforesaid and to bring the conveyor to a dead stop prior to each movement of 7 said concurrently-acting means into operative engagement with said book.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9 in which the clutch means is driven from the main shaft through a driving connection supplying a greater angular displacement to the input side of the clutch than is needed at the output side for the measured conveyor step; said clutch being of the over-running type capable of being wholly stopped on the output side before completion of the full input displacement; a dead-stop dog connected for actuation to act on the output side of the clutch to stop the conveyor dead; and means acting in synchrony with the concurrently-acting needle, drill, and presser foot means to actuate the dead stop dog intermittently for stoppage of the conveyor as aforesaid.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Hancock Apr. 20, 1909 Murray Jan. 9, 1923 Welch Oct. 5, 1926 Sieb Nov. 22, 1932 Gannon et al. May 27, 1934 Davies et al. July 16, 1940 Phillips Oct. 15, 1940 Hildmann Nov. 16, 1943 Dumas Aug. 12, 1958 

